Apparatus for refrigeration.



PATBNTED MAR; I0, 1908.

hNg. 881,733, y

A. R. SPRAIGUE- APPARATUS FOR RBFRIGERATION.

APPLICATION I"ILED`SEP1H 27. 19.05.

u u' im Mi glons of country of ALMERIN R. SPRAGUE, OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR,

BY MESNE'ASSIGN MENTS,

TO L. A. ROY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS' FOR REFRIGERATION Speicication of Letters Patent.

Patented March 1o, 190s.

Application filed September 27, 1905. Serial No. 280,354.

To all 'whom it 'may concern:

Beit known that I, ALMERIN citizen of the United States, residing at Sacramento, in the county of Sacramento and State of California, have invented cer' tain .new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Refrigeration, of which the folowing is a specification.

In shilpping perishable products, as fruits, vegetab es, etc., long distances, as across the continent, it hasbeen discovered that if such products be thoroughly cooled before. startlng'upon the journey the loss from deca during transit will be reduced to a mimmum. Heretofore it has been the ractice in shipping fruit from California to t e `eastern markets to packl the fruit in boxes and put it intocars-as quickly as possible and' start it'u on its journeywith as little delay as posslb e depending upon'the circulation `of ycooled air within the .car to effect the thoroughl cooling of the fruit during its journey. But it has been found impossible to so thoroughly cool the fruit under these.

conditions as to prevent its decay and especially when the fruit passed through reextremely high temperatures and the fruit was alsol subjected to the within the car' caused by the decay of some of the more perishable portions of the load. i

The object of my invention -is to avoid these objections by thoroughly and quickly cooling the fruit or other products before starting it upon its 'journey and preferably after it has been loaded luto the car.l A

-, most eflicient and economical means for acthoroughly coo v complishirg 4-0 rent of col air through the car from one end i warm air within this purpose is by passing a curto the other and also through'a coohng medium, preferably ice at one .or both ends,y and thoroughly circulating and distributing the current toa'll parts of the car during its passage.` `It is also very desirable that the ackages, as boxes of oranges, be re laced) by cooler air to more the products being shi ped.

But so long as the current of airn an easier passage between "the packages it is impossible to force vit through them, hence it becomes necessary to provide means .for

forcing as much of the air as possible from the interior to exterior of the packages where it can be taken up by the current and car- R. SPRAGUE,

It is a .well known fact tion of the airis removed from a chamber to `it may be removed bypassing a currentthrough the car. As'soon as the currentiills the car the air remaining in the packa es contracts to its normal condition and t e portion of the current that'tazkesE the lace of the removed air cools the fruit-Witli` which it comes in contact and also mingles with the remaining air to.a greater or less extent, so that when thecurrent is again stopped and suction established the air within the packages is again expanded and a portion re- `moved as before. By alternating the current andthe partial vacuumwithin the car the contents oftheE packages can be cooled so quickly and thoroughly that substantially all chemical action,` as decay or further ripening, can be stopped, and by keeping such contents at that temperature, which can be easily done by means of ice within the car, fruit can be ri ened on the trees before acking and then d) as good condition'as at a nearer market.

1t is also desirable at certain times of the year, as at the beginning of the orange seathat vwhen a por- `formv a partial'vacuum the remaining air will fruit may be exhausted elivered at a distant mar et in son, to ripen the fruit artificially, as by the application of a greater degree of heat than it would receive by. leaving it on the trees.

This can easily be done by means of my invention byk heating the current of air during its passage land then passingit continuously or intermittently through the =car in the same manner as cool -air for refrigeration. In fact, after the fruit has been sufficiently ripened by the warm air, it is only necessary to shut ofl'the warm air and turn on the cool and fill the ice tanksin order to cool the fruit as first described, `:when it is'ready for transportation to the most distant markets. I accomplish this and other objects by means ofi the mechanism andl apparatus shown in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter more fully set forth.

Figure 1- is av vertical longitudinal'section of a car, together with a side elevation of one form of apparatus embodying'my invention for producing the refrigeration; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same; Fig. 3, is an end view; Fig. 4, is a broken longitudinal sectional view of a portionof the cooling apparatus; Fig.v 5, is a transverse view of the same.

In the drawings 1 indicates the body of a car which may be of any ordinary construction and provided with the usual ice tanks 2 at the ends. The bottoms 3 of the tanks are arranged at a slight distance above the floor ofthe car and an opening 4 is formed into the interior of the car which is preferably covered with wire screen inthe usual manner. An opening 5 is also formed at the upper portion of said wall at or near the roof of the car. A movable damper or regulator 6 is provided for the opening 5 which may be in the form of a wing or shutter that is adapted to be moved to close the opening to a greater or less extent. o

In the construction shown in Fig. 1, a bafle board or obstruction 8 is arranged transversely of the car at the top, preferably near the center, with its lower end extending down to a greater or less distance between the boxes or packages of fruit 9, which are arranged in tiers within the car, generally with a wider space at the center of the car than atany other place. By this arrangement of baffles a current of air is caused to enter the top of the car at one end and have the major portion forced down through the ice'in the tank at that end and out through the opening at the bottom where it is distributed andv caused to pass among the boxes and through to the vopposite end of the car and out through the ice in the tank at that end. The minor portion of the air enters the car through the opening at the top of the ice tank, depending upon the size of the opening as regulated by the dampers at that point and commingles with the air from the bottom opening. In passing from the interior of the car a greater portion of it passes out through the largern opening at the bottom while a lesser portion passes out the gradu ated opening at the top of the ice tank at that end. v l 1 In the construction shown in Fig. 1, the baffle prevents the air from passing in a current from one end of the car to the other in the -space between the tops of the tiers of boxes and the top of the car and causes it to be thoroughly broken up and evenly distributed throughout the ear.

The current of air may be generated and controlled in any suitable manner, but I have shown a very desirable construction in which an elongated chamber, preferably in the form of a tube 12, is arranged lengthwise y at one side of the track upon which the car in handling, with the ends of the sections flanged so as to be secured to ether, as by bolts. A connector or con uit extends from each end of the tube in position to bev detachably connected with the car at its top as through the openings 13 into the ice tanks. I prefer to construct these conduits as standpipes 14, the upper end of each of which overhangs the main ortion and is adapted to be moved over t e to of the car and away again as by means o a curved portion 15, one end of which extends into the upper end of thepipe and is adapted to be rotatably supported therein, as by means of a band or collar 16. An annular gear wheel 18 is`rigidly secured to the portion 15 so as to rest upon the band and rotate the curved portion when the wheel is turned, as by a pinion 19 at the upper end of a crank shaft 20, which is journaled in bearings in two clam s 21 secured to the main portion of the stand) pipef Means may berovidcd for adjusting the osition of the en s of the curved portions 15 or adapting them for use with cars of different lengths. This is `preferably done by providing one of them with a straight telescopic joint 27, by means of which its length can be varied and the end moved to one side or the other of a plane through the stand pi e at right angles to. the side of the car. y making the joint rotatable as well as telescopic the extension upon that curved portion can be inserted into and removed from the openings 13 at that end ofthe car without removing it from said portion.

Une of the standpipes is referably connected with the end of the tube 12 by means of a casing 28, within which is mounted an ordinary fan or blower which'is ada ted to create a continuous current through t ie tube and stand pipes and through the car. One end ofthe tube is curved as at 29 so as to be joined to the inlet at the center of the casing 28 and the lower end of the stand pipe is curved as at 30 and joined to the outlet of the same casing. In this manner that pi e normally stands nearer the car than t ie other one as shown more particularly in Fig. '3, and permits of the curve at the upper end of said other pipe being provided with the telescopic joint. It also causes the fan shaft 31 to stand lengthwise of the tube whereby the power for rotating the shaft, not shown, can be placed to one side of the tube.

One or more sections of the tube as 32 are referably enlarged as shown more particuarly in Fig. 4, and located therein is an elongated coil of horizontally arranged pipes through which the water or brine, as the case may be, from the melted ice is caused to pass from the drip tubes of the ice tanks and thereby materially assist in cooling thelair as it is forced through the tube by the where it is further cooled very essential in order to In cpoling or refligerating a carwithr the'y ap arat'us as above escribed, the car, prefera ly loaded, is drawn to a point adjacent to the a paratus and the curved portions adjuste so as to permit of the insertion of the extension into the openings of the ice boxes thereby forming an endless conduit of whichv the car body forms a part. The blower is then put in operation by starting the motor which will cause a strong current of air to be rapidly circulated through the car and the tu e. As the air enters the car the ma'or portion of it passes through the tank an is cooled and dried by the ice and from there it is circulated through the car and passes out at the other end', the most of it going through th'e tank where the heat and moisture that it has accumulated from the contents of the car are absorbed by the icein the tank. The lesser portion of the air current passes into the car through the graduated opening at the top of the iirst tank and commingles with the current of air within the car body 'which is being deflected and driven to every part of the car by the baiiles, and 0n leaving the car a smaller portion of the air passes through the graduated opening at the upper end of the tank at that end.

After leaving the car the air asses down through one stand pipe, throug the tube, and u through the other stand pipe back into t e car again, and on its way through the tube it is broken up and caused to ass in contact with the different pipes of t e coil by the melted ice and salt, the temperature of the water rising from a trifle above 30 where it leaves the car to about where it leaves the coil. The tube and stand pipes are of such a large size that the air can pass through them in a .large volume thereby causing the process of cooling to proceed with great rapidity Which'is get thecar cooled and started on its -ourney with as little ,delay as possible.

e very desirable results can be secured in this manner, it requires considerable time to replace the air in the packa es with the cooler air, hence I prefer to rovlde the apparatus with means for intermlttently varying vthe density which will cause a movement of the air within the packages from their interior to the exterior. This can be easily' done by closing the conduit at a point beforeit reaches the car to stop the current Iand opening itat another betweenthe stop yconnected with the drip of the air Within the car.

and the blower to permit the air from the b ower to escape.

stand e between the b ower and the car as provi e with two valves 38 and 39, each of which is formed.v from a sheet of metal that is v seated in a rectangular pocket-like frame 40 formed upon or connected Awith the stand pi e, thepocketof the valve 39 being preferabIly located in a short'extension 4-1 from the side of the stand pipe.

ose

One of the valves, as 38, is arranged to c tween the blower and the atmosphere.

With such a structure it is evident that when 'the valve 39 is closed and the valve 38 opened `the air will be circulated through the car and the ap aratus will operate the same as heretofore (ves'cribed, but by closing the valve 38 and opening 39 the air will be shut off from rentering the car but will be exhausted through the extension 41. This will produce a artial vacuum in the car which will cause t ie air in the packages to expand and fill thecar, including the space between the packagesl After exhausting the air in this manner for any desired time the valve 38 is opened and 39 is closed which will cause the air to be again moved in a current. Ity 1s better to restore the tension of the air `to its normal condition before circulating it which can be done by leaving the valve'39 open for ashort time after opening the valve 38. Instead of entirely opening and closing the valves they can be partly opened whicwill permit of the circulation of a current varying 1n density from a slight compression when the full current is Howlng, to a greater or less degree of attenuation, as when a portion of the current is permitted to escape and the remainder of it is circulated. By manipulating the two valves in this manner during the operation of the blower the fruit will be cooled much quicker and with more uniformity than where the continuous current alone is used.

When it is desired to utilize my apparatus and invention for warming fruit or other articles, as for ripening or coloring oranges in the early part of the season, the current of air can be warmed or heated to any desired degree by connecting the ends of the coil 33, as the case `may be, in any ordinary manner, with any suitable steaml generator, not shown. By using such an'arran ement the In Fig. 3 of the drawings I have shown the l the ipe between the `blower and the car and t e other one 1s adapted to open or close communication befruit can be taken from the orc ard where n v the temperature at that time of the year is comparatively low and the ripening process.

correspondingly slow, and putting 41t in a? w place Where 1t can be )subjected 'to a temi perature of 90 degrees or more, which will" causethe ripening or coloring to.'.be'corre.

spondin ly accelerated. -After. the fruithas been su ciently -ripened the heat is cut off' and the'connectlonsandarrangements made 130 for refrigeration which process will be carried on in the same manner as though the fruit had been ripenedon the trees. After the car a conduit connected t shipped at the same time but only treated in.

the usual manner.

Althou h I have shown a construction that has been' ound to be very efiicient and have described it as applied to fruit, it is evident that changes and modifications may be made Y 4 in the apparatus and the process may be applied to other products than fruit, Aas for instance, meats, vegetablesNetc., and I re serve the right -to make all such changes,

variations and applications as Will come withinthe scope of my invention.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:.

1. In a refrigeratinapparatus, a chamber, erewith provided with to the atmosphere, a blower and an openin valve be' between the'blower valve, sai

. and the chamber, and eing'adapted to'conduit.

trol the'passage through ne conduit, a second valve adapted to control the opening to the atmosphere, and a coil in the conduit.

2. In a temperature changing apparatus, a chamber adapted to contain a temperature changing medium', a conduit connected therewith at both ends and provided with an openin to theatmosphere, a blower and two valflyves, said opening being between the blower in the conduit and the chamber and one of the valves being adapted to control said opening Aand the other valve bein adapted to control the 3. In a refrigerating apparatus, a chamber' adapted to contain a cooling medium, a conduit connected therewith, a coil in the conduit adapted to be connected with said chainber and said cooling medium passed through it, and means for intermittently passing a current of air through the conduit and chainber in such volume as to appreciably vary the density of the air within the chamber and its contents, whereby said contents are quickly cooled. y

In testimony whereof I afhx my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this lt 1 day of September, 1905.-

' ALMERIN R. SPRAGUF). Witnesses:

B. W. SHEPHERD, A. S. ANDERs`oN-` passage through t e con- 

